December
Jay started a part-time job for the vacation, working at her local stables at the weekend, and filling in for the regular stable girls at other times over Christmas. Her first duty was the day after she got back.
With Teresa, Jay made an early return to Oxford, just for
the day on Wednesday 5, to finish off Christmas shopping. Their journey was spoilt by the cancellation
of the train and the non-arrival of a relief coach, so they shared a taxi to
Oxford at considerable extra expense.
(We hoped they could obtain compensation for the wasted tickets and the
inevitable delay, but their complaints have been ignored by First Great
Western.)
On
Friday 7 Helen returned for the week-end, Teresa having lined up two Christmas
events for the girls – a charity carol concert (for Save the Children) on
Friday evening, held in a large private house in Winchcombe, and a performance
of The Messiah in Tewkesbury Abbey on the Saturday evening. (We had been to Tewkesbury the previous
month to book the tickets – see our visit to Tewkesbury.)
Helen and Jay just before setting out
Roger’s bowls took a break for Christmas, with his Littleton team finishing the year strongly with three straight wins, not, unfortunately, echoed at Malvern.
Jay went to the dentist soon after returning: she needed a filling (to be done after Christmas), but has also been recommended for some orthodontic treatment which would be expensive and take about two years. She is yet to decide on whether to go ahead.
Teresa
recently responded to a journalist’s trawl for interesting Christmas health
problems: she wrote in about her
allergy to pine needles. The Daily
Express took up the story and sent a photographer along on Tuesday 11 to
get a picture to illustrate it. His
brief was to have Teresa full-length by her artificial tree. Unfortunately, the only artificial trees we
have are about 18 inches high. The
photographer certainly earned his money!
We didn’t like to say that we do normally have a real tree – it’s just
that Teresa can’t touch it.
Here’s
how he solved the problem
In fact, we had a particularly good tree this year. Having been disappointed by the selection in the local garden centre, we sought out a local farm, which was offering freshly cut traditional trees at about half a garden centre’s price.
Teresa and Jay went to several local Christmas events: on Saturday 15 to Sudeley Castle (Click here for details.) and to carol services at Hailes Church on Wednesday 19 and at Toddington Church on Sunday 23. Hailes is an old and austere setting and they found it particularly atmospheric there. (Click here for our visit to Hailes in 2001.)
However, the most memorable event of the month was Teresa and Jay’s visit to Olympia for the London International Horse Show on Friday 21. It was an early start and a full day, but of course Jay was in her element, and, apart from the spectacle, made good use of her time at the endless rows of tack shops beforehand.
The London International Horse Show
Meanwhile, Roger played bowls and collected Helen from the station (from a rather earlier train). Later in the evening, we were all reunited and tucked ourselves in (metaphorically) for Christmas.
As
usual, Teresa masterminded a wonderful Christmas, with our favourite meals on
Christmas Eve (beef for Teresa and Roger, duck for the girls) and for Christmas
Day lunch (turkey for all). On
Christmas afternoon we were spoilt by a plethora of presents. Among these was a Wii, which Teresa had
pounced on in the pre-Christmas rush, and had subsequently claimed could not be
delivered in time. (Many were not, I
believe.) So it was a surprise and,
predictably, an instant hit.
Pictures and other details of our Christmas celebrations are on a Christmas Gallery page.
Helen returned to London on Saturday 29, so three of us remained to see in the New Year.
Finally, some local news. The old village hall close to the church had been sold earlier this year. It had limited facilities and parking. Planning approval has been given for a new hall next to the school, and we understood that most of the finance was in place, with a prospect of work starting the following year.
A new web-site had details and also some general information about Toddington, see below:
Toddington Village Hall Website